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Vol. 8 No. 38…Dedicated
to the Dialogue on Race…September 23, 2005
Mardi Gras’ Mask
By John Burl Smith
A city in ruins, the greatest
damage was not caused by Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans' human tragedy is
deeply rooted in the fact slaves and their descendants have always out-numbered
whites. This perfect storm washed away the Mardi Gras mask that has hidden this
fact to reveal a festering history of centuries of benighted negligence and
racism
Touring shelters in Louisiana, activist Andrea Garland said, "The Red Cross has raised over $800 million, but people can't get soap or showers." Common Ground Collective, a group working in Algiers, set up a community medical station in the Masjid Bigal Mosque and organized a food distribution network. According to Malik Rahim of Act Out Now, "16,000 people from New Orleans Parish down to Plaquemines and into Jefferson Parishes are being served."
Jordan Flaherty offered this assessment of why blacks face such dire circumstances in New Orleans. "Black community traditions here, like across the South, developed outside the white power structure. For example, Black Mardi Gras has a core tradition of Mardi Gras Indians. The police have always tried to repress it."
Conversely, white Mardi Gras Krewes of Rex and Momus are viewed as part of the leadership in New Orleans. Currently, most Krewes live in uptown New Orleans. They are the ones planning the reconstruction of the city. Comments by businessmen like James Rice (a new David Duke), a leader of Audubon Place, the only privately owned gated community in New Orleans, concern blacks. He talks openly of 'Changing New Orleans completely, demographically, geographically, politically and racially. We want this city rebuilt in a completely different way. The way we have been living is not going to happen again or we're out.' Rice brought Israeli para-militaries in to guard his facility. These Israelis are former members of the Shin Beit, the GSS and Israeli Defense forces. Today, Israeli security patrols Audubon Place and white vigilante gangs (a.k.a. KKK) patrol Algiers on the West Bank.
The Army and National Guard with Marshal Law and a curfew control the city. This situation can get very ugly as people return. The potential for conflict resembles the end of the Civil War for blacks. Poor people returning to homes and apartments they were renting will face a city with repressive laws that do not protect tenants. This is when the overt agenda of the very wealthy, who are planning to change the racial, economic and political makeup of the city, will conflict with tradition.
Whites have hired guns, foreign and domestic, to
guard their property and their interests. Martial law in a depopulated city is
one thing, but when people want to begin rebuilding their lives, New Orleans
can become the "Wild Wild West." Very wealthy, powerful people
supported by old-time white Louisiana Republican families backed up by men with
guns (KKK) have decided that blacks and poor people, whose great grandparents,
grandparents and parents lived all their lives in New Orleans, are not welcome
any more. If they do not have the right to return, Mardi Gras mask off, New
Orleans has the potential of not just conflict but open warfare. http://www.dedefensa.org http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?con
The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is a
mass of walking contradictions. A typical pre-teen, he readily resorts to
elaborate fabrications to escape work and sundry unpleasant confrontations. Set
on avoiding a recent homework assignment, rather than the tired tale of the dog
eating his books, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro declared, "They're in my school
locker; it's new and won't open!"
Allison Marcel Montana (1922-2005)
On September 14, 1874, "Ex-Confederates of the newly formed White League barricaded streets, attacked and killed many of the interracial Metropolitan Police, and seized the state capitol, which, at the time, was the old St. Louis Hotel." While this insurrection was put down, it marked the beginning of a period of intense racial oppression and outright terror for blacks in New Orleans.
The New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian culture developed in response to racial oppression. Denied free expression, black men masqueraded as Indians, whose warrior spirit exemplifies resistance to European domination. Blacks created costumes styled after the American Plains Indian. These elaborate outfits and African and Indian influenced rituals offered an escape from their brutal reality.
The "Indian" presence in Mardi Gras Carnival processions intensified alongside Jim Crow segregation. Blacks were forbidden to parade on Canal Street and in the French Quarters, so Mardi Gras Indian tribes gathered in the black community. Unfortunately, their early gatherings, which pitted rival tribes against each other, were often marked by violence and frequently ended in bloodshed.
Born in New Orleans in 1922, Allison "Tootie" Montana, like his father, Alfred Montana, was Big Chief of the Mardi Gras tribe Yellow Pocahontas. At the age of ten, young Montana created his first Indian mask by watching his father.
Following a brief period working at shipyards in Richmond, Virginia and Oakland, California (1943 -1947), Montana returned to New Orleans and began making masks, becoming one of the masters of Mardi Gras Indian suit making. For fifty years, he created a new costume each year, using a variety of materials including rhinestones, pearls, sequins and plumes. Recognized as dean of Mardi Gras Indians, he was a regular presenter on Mardi Gras Indian culture at Tulane University (1997-2001).
Montana received global recognition for his mastery of Mardi Gras Indian traditions. He became known as the "The Prettiest" Mardi Gras Indian for his innovative and creative designs. The Smithsonian purchased one of his masterpieces. Recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship Award and Louisiana Folk Arts Apprenticeship Grant, his Yellow Pocahantas performed at many events, including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. In 1987, he received a Master Traditional Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His vision and dedication led to an award to fund the establishment of a New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Museum.
Montana was instrumental in influencing Mardi Gras Indians to end the internal violence associated with their gatherings. Now, on Mardi Gras Day, St. Joseph's Day and Super Sunday, the tribes meet in the streets to compete with this costumes, enact ritual war dances, stand-offs and peace treaties. For his work in the community and with the tribes, Montana became known as the peaceful warrior and was crowned the first and only Chief of Chiefs.
On March 19, 2005, St. Joseph's night, New Orleans police disrupted the Indian gathering at LaSalle Street and Washington Avenue. Participants complained police were verbally and physically abusive. Video footage captured by local photographer L.J. Goldstein verified many of the eyewitness accounts; it showed officers driving at high speeds near crowds that included women and children.
On June 27, the New Orleans City Council convened a special hearing to address the disrespectful police behavior. Outraged, Big Chief Montana demanded to speak. The 82-year-old eloquently recounted the long history of police brutality. Surrounded by his chiefs, Montana's last words before slumping to the floor were, "This has got to stop!" He suffered a heart attack and was later pronounced dead at Charity Hospital.
On July 9, hundreds attended a three-hour mass
and the colorful funeral procession that followed. Viewed as a martyr, Montana
died fighting for the Mardi Gras Indians, an act that sealed his legacy as
Chief of Chiefs. (Sources: www.nsula.edu, www.louisianafolklife.org, www.imdiversity.com and www.skypilotclub.com/tootie.html)
Disgruntled
wants to know: Former First Lady and mother of the current Oval
Office occupant Barbara Bush is a member of the wealthy elite. She has never
hungered for food or any other necessity. Earlier this month, she toured the
Houston Astrodome, temporary home to hurricane evacuees. Insensitive to the
plight of the less fortunate, she remarked, "So many of the people in the
arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway. This is working very well
for them." Given her mind is too beautiful to dwell on lives lost in Iraq,
did this comment clarify character traits of the bosom that nurtured Bush
conservative compassion?
Disgruntled Says:
In a recent address, former CBS News anchor Dan Rather accurately characterized
contemporary journalism in a most uncomplimentary fashion. No longer serving
the public interest, conglomerate-controlled media are primarily concerned with
shareholder value and profits. At best, given the intersection of politicians
"of every persuasion" applying pressure on media conglomerates and
their need to show a profit for shareholders, the "new journalism
order" provides "dumbed-down, tarted-up" coverage.
Disgruntled feels: Skeptical! Under George W. Bush, the US debt
has ballooned to nearly eight trillion dollars. With trillions in tax cuts for
the wealthy and more than a billion dollars spent weekly on a war of choice,
there has been a huge transfer of wealth from the bottom up under this
administration. In his belated response to the aftermath of hurricane Katrina,
he promised to spend whatever is necessary to rebuild the Gulf Coast region
without raising taxes. Do not blame the poor and underclass most adversely
affected by Katrina, if they are skeptical. After all, Bush is good at making
promises, but his record on keeping them is questionable. Just ask Africans
waiting on promised funds to fight AIDS.
New Orleans
By Chuck Perkins
If your American dream is painted
on a canvas
Neatly folded in the corner of
Andy Warhol’s mind
New Orleans is a hurricane
beating down your coast
If you close your eyes and feel
the easy ride
Of the St. Charles Street Car
Where a solo tuba
blows the scent of magnolia
Down narrow streets
and everyone plays possum with
the heat
and no one’s too big or too small
to paint their tongue with a
snowball
where former slaves pay homage
to the first Americans
by masking in suits of
rhinestones
and bright colored feathers
that transform security guards
into Indian Chiefs
doing rain dances on Congo Square
where the drums drum and the wine
drink
and the big chief sing somebody
give me a quarter
cause pretty big chief want some
water.
If you can envision the souls of
yesterday
living in the music
that rises from the cracks in the
sidewalks
New Orleans is your dream
With a heart as soft as the
Spanish moss
Dripping from centuries old oak
trees
She’s a pretty face with dirty
feet
The good witch of lake
Ponchartrain
The spice god of shrimp and
crawfish
Keeping the spirits fed
Communities of windowless
monuments
Masquerading as cemeteries tower
above ground
No earth or worms to cover the
flesh
No silver bullets to turn out the
spirits
That still dance with her
Spin your umbrella and wave your
bandanna
It’s Mardi Gras time and
everybody’s happy
Armed with a blue print of
civilization
The new world stormed in
With enough asphalt and cement
To pave a boulevard back to Paris
The spirit of the swamp still
hasn’t submitted
Leaving mildewed kisses of
disapproval
On every thing foreign to the wet
lands
Catholicism could not turn out
the spirit of Marie Laveau
The wrecking ball could not turn
out the spirit of Storyville
And death could not turn out the
spirit of Louie Armstrong
When yesterday hangs on to
forever
Tradition is a temple.
About Me: A New
Orleans, Louisiana native, Perkins' parents sharecropped when he was a child.
Product of the Deep South, he grew up always cognizant of race. Perkins
attended New Orleans inner city public schools, where he began writing poetry
in the tenth grade. His first poem, Mardi Gras, dealt with how rudely
the police treated black teenagers. Marine Corps veteran and graduate of Xavier
University, he was a member of the 1996 Chicago slam team. For more about this
talented native, see http://voices.e-poets.net/PerkinsC/poem-NewOrleans.shtml)
On Big Easy Made Easy!
By John Burl Smith
George W. Bush notified the world
that reconstruction in New Orleans will follow the same play book as in Iraq;
political patronage will determine contracts. Hoards of companies that got rich
bomb rushing Iraq are poised to descend on the "Big Easy." Leading
the pack is Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Haliburton, VP
Dick Cheney's former team of war profiteers and principle source of wealth. KBR
got $10 billion to provide fuel, build bases, supply food, laundry soap, take
out the garbage, etc. for the US's new lean mean privatized fighting machine,
with the National Guard and Reserves serving as relief and cannon fodder.
Second comes Bechtel Corporation, infamous for cost overruns on Boston's
"Big Dig" (Central Artery/Tunnel Project), which ran its cost to $3
billion in a few months in Iraq. Fluor Corporation, which partnered with a
London firm, won a water distribution and treatment contract worth $1.1
billion. The Shaw Group Inc. covers the corners with $47 million for facility
upgrades and a separate $88.7 million construction deal. Even CH2M Hill scored
twice on a $28.5 million reconstruction and $12.7 million electrical power end
runs.
So, here they all are again-- Haliburton, KBR, Shaw Group, Bechtel and CH2M
Hill-- ready to blitz the "Big Easy" for bucks by sacking US
taxpayers under the guise of disaster reconstruction. However, the bamboozled
New Orleans people will not get a dime, just as Iraqis did not get into the
game. Any referee that blows the whistle will end up like Bunnatine H.
Greenhouse, former Director of Contracting, US Army Corps of Engineers.
(Sources: www.wacotrib.com www.chicagotribune.com and www.pej.org)
Blackwater KKK Without Sheets
By John Burl Smith
Blackwater USA (BUSA) has taken
on the role of the National Guard at home and aboard. Mercenaries for the
military in Iraq, BUSA operatives are doing general law enforcement in New
Orleans, including securing neighborhoods and confronting criminals. Many
online and print media express shock and dismay. Blackwater mercenaries are
described as thugs rampaging through the streets, armed to the teeth and
dressed in full battle gear.
Armed with a $400,000 contract, BUSA is not only protecting federal buildings,
but hotels, businesses and industrial plants, even retrieving dead bodies for
the Office of Homeland Security. Organized by two former Navy Seal commandos in
1996, BUSA is based on 6,000 acres in Moyock, NC. Executive vice president
William Mathews said, it has 330 staffers and 5,000 independent contractors,
250 of which are in New Orleans.
With the National Guard fighting in Iraq, rather than protecting the home
front, security companies are raking in millions in Louisiana. Web sites in
Europe, Canada and Australia say Blackwater's actions in New Orleans are
reminiscent of Adolf Hitler's "Brown Shirts."
Blackwater USA is not alone; Kenyon International Emergency Services, Kroll
Inc., Safeguard Security Holdings, the Steele Foundation, Securitas Security
Services USA Inc., Wackenhut Security and Instar are just a few of the more
than fifty private security firms operating in the state. This does not include
an unknown number of bootleg fly-by-night operatives. State residents are
rightfully concerned. Many wonder, has Congress defined liability for the
actions of private security firms? (For more on BUSA, see www.fortwayne.com and www.alternet.org)
Consumer Watchdogs
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, survivors report difficulty in obtaining copies of their insurance policies, which are necessary to begin the claims process. The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) tracks insurance complaints. It has asked insurers to post standard policies online, along with language on exclusions. This will give policyholders an indication of possible coverage to begin the claim process. Unnecessary delays might force them to turn to FEMA for assistance, which is substantially less valuable than insurance coverage.
FTCR and Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, who has filed a lawsuit against the major insurers, believe homeowners in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama that purchased insurance should be covered, whether their property incurred wind or water damage.
FTCR encourages policyholders to fight for a fair settlement. To do so, see FTCR's list of disaster claims tips at www.consumerwatchdog.org/insurance/katrina.
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